Probing involves contacting a pad surface of an integrated circuit (IC) with a probe tip. The process involves positioning of probe pads (such as bonding pads on an IC) relative to probe tips. The positioning of bonding pads, in one system, is achieved by positioning a wafer containing the devices under test.
A semiconductor wafer typically includes many integrated circuits formed in a lattice of devices or integrated circuits. In some cases, a wafer may include a single discrete component rather than an IC, and these components may also be arranged in a lattice on the wafer. Each IC has a plurality of bonding pads that are commonly used to connect the IC to external circuitry or devices. Given the cost of packaging ICs, most ICs are tested in a wafer probing system prior to packaging.
In order for a wafer to be in the correct orientation, some wafer probing machines require a pre-aligner to manipulate the position of the wafer so that testing probe tips are correctly aligned with bonding pads on the IC when the wafer is in a test position.
As the semiconductor manufacturing art progresses, wafer manufacturing capabilities allow the production of thinner wafers. However, as a result, warped or thin flexible wafers become more difficult to handle in pre-aligning systems. Hence, it is desirable to provide a wafer handling system and method that can safely handle and transfer thin flexible wafers without causing damage.